Problems with Truck

Rocker3829 · Mar 31, 2009

Hey y'all, lookin for some advice here on what I should with my ranger. Heres the backstory on my 1996 2.3L 5 Speed Manual Ranger

I was driving to class yesterday when I had to stop at a 4 way stop. I took off from the stop to realize that the motor sounded and felt like it was running rough. Long story short a friend of mine has helped me change 7 of the 8 spark plugs and wires and cleaned the MAF sensor and it is running a little bit better but it still is not perfect. It really rides rough in 1st and 2nd but once I get to higher rpms in 3rd and eventually into 4th and 5th it smooths out. I have disconnected the battery to clear the codes but doing that did not change how it runs.

I have the following codes:

P1443 (aux. Emissions)
P0303 (Cylinder 3 misfire)
P0171 (not sure what this one is)
P0420 (Cat.)
P0402 and P0401 (EGR Flow)

I guess the next thing to do would be to get new Ignition coil(s). Any help on what I should do next (and any advice on how to get to the 8th spark plug and wire behind the intake manifold) would be greatly appreciated.

fastpakr · Mar 31, 2009

Don't go buy new ignition coils like that. You can grab any volt meter and test your existing ones in a couple of minutes. .3-1 ohms from power to each coil ground (primary resistance) and 6500-11000 ohms between the matching plug towers. If you really want to do this right the first time, stop by the library and find the Mitchell manual for '96 domestic light trucks. It will walk you through chasing down the problem.

Rocker3829 · Mar 31, 2009

Appreciate the help, lookin into that right now actually

pops13 · Mar 31, 2009

take off the throttle body, 4 bolts and use a long extension with a swivel, tape the swivel so it doesn"t flop around, make it alot easier to get to the last plug

fastpakr · Mar 31, 2009

Are the later 2.3's harder to access than the '94?

Bryan22 · Mar 31, 2009

i'd start with the EGR system. that will cause a bunch of problems if it's not functioning properly. and i think the primary resistance for the coils is less than .5k ohms and secondary should fall between 11k and 17.5 k.

Bryan22 · Mar 31, 2009

fastpakr said:
Are the later 2.3's harder to access than the '94?

nah just most people have a hard time with the plugs the first time around. you have to admit it is kind of a pain. I was able to get all of them with a long and shrot extension coupled with a u-joint. Only thing i had to remove was the bolts for the ac compressor so i could move it aside a couple inches.

fastpakr · Mar 31, 2009

Bryan22 said:
i'd start with the EGR system. that will cause a bunch of problems if it's not functioning properly. and i think the primary resistance for the coils is less than .5k ohms and secondary should fall between 11k and 17.5 k.

Where did you get those numbers? They completely wrong. I don't see the numbers in the Mitchell manual, but per Haynes it's .3-1ohm (NOT kilo ohms) for primary resistance and 6.5k-11.5k ohms for secondary resistance.

pocket-rocket · Mar 31, 2009

Bryan22 said:
nah just most people have a hard time with the plugs the first time around. you have to admit it is kind of a pain. I was able to get all of them with a long and shrot extension coupled with a u-joint. Only thing i had to remove was the bolts for the ac compressor so i could move it aside a couple inches.

Wow, so no A/C does have an advantage huh?

fastpakr · Apr 1, 2009

Not sure - I didn't touch the A/C compressor when I changed my plugs.

Bryan22 · Apr 1, 2009

fastpakr said:
Where did you get those numbers? They completely wrong. I don't see the numbers in the Mitchell manual, but per Haynes it's .3-1ohm (NOT kilo ohms) for primary resistance and 6.5k-11.5k ohms for secondary resistance.

6.5 -11.5k is way off from what i've read everywhere. and from what i've read from my coil packs. a brand new one from autozone says it's 17.5k and an accel states it's secondary to be 11.5k. i've never seen any numbers in my manuals or on the coils specifications that says it should be less than 11.5k. edit- looking in my haynes manual right now and it states secondary resistence to be 13-15k-ohms. it also states that the primary resistance should be less than 5.0 ohms. this is directly from my manual. "ford ranger pick-ups 1993-2005"- so your numbers are "completely wrong". not mine.

fastpakr · Apr 1, 2009

OK, so we're looking at somewhere between 6.5 and 15 k for the secondary. Different sources apparently vary a little bit. Your original primary number was still off by a factor of several hundred.

Bryan22 · Apr 2, 2009

i know i was off with the decimal with the primary. i wasn't trying to be a jerk. sarcasm is lost online

MHardee · Jun 27, 2011

Bryan22 said:
6.5 -11.5k is way off from what i've read everywhere. and from what i've read from my coil packs. a brand new one from autozone says it's 17.5k and an accel states it's secondary to be 11.5k. i've never seen any numbers in my manuals or on the coils specifications that says it should be less than 11.5k. edit- looking in my haynes manual right now and it states secondary resistence to be 13-15k-ohms. it also states that the primary resistance should be less than 5.0 ohms. this is directly from my manual. "ford ranger pick-ups 1993-2005"- so your numbers are "completely wrong". not mine.

Getting a P0301 and measured resistence across pairs and get 11,100 OHMs on each and the Haynes Manual states they should be 13 - 15K OHMS... Is this enough of a difference to swap coil?
Engine sputters and missing when you apply throttle, buck and snorts but as is builds RPM's, it fires all cylinders and runs better - not great...

Thanks

jfkansas · Jun 27, 2011

Mine was doing this. The things I replaced was the DPFE, easy job, replace the hoses to the manifold also if they are hard cracked or broken. ICM, kind of a pain in the ass, but got er done without removing any accessories (1994 2.3). This cleared up most of the problems. Had 182000 miles on the O2 sensor so changed that and recently cleaned out the Idle control valve. Definitely look to the ICM and DPFE if the coils measure out ok. Autozone actually has a pretty good info about what measurements to read to test if the part is bad.

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